| Dear Reader, | | | | target ppc ads. |
| This e-commerce article will help you make more | | | | The first you should do is to control whether the site |
| money with Google AdSense and Yahoo Publishing | | | | has enough content. The more text content there is |
| Network. All information given below do not infringe | | | | the faster and more accurate your ads will be |
| any TOS of the respective service, of course. | | | | targeted by Google's bots. So you should add |
| First of all, PPC ads like those provided by AdSense | | | | additional content to your site to get better ads. |
| or YPN are great ways to earn money online. | | | | If you still don't get advertising links that fit to your site's |
| Especially if you have got an established and | | | | content and thus to your visitors' interests, you should |
| content-rich website. AdSense ads are targeted ads, | | | | implement section targeting. |
| which means they fit to the site's content. Therefore | | | | Section targeting is a very useful tool to help Google |
| it's likely they will meet the visitors' interests. This usually | | | | find the best ads for your site. It allows you to suggest |
| leads to a high click through ratio on AdSense ads | | | | sections of your text content that you'd like Google to |
| compared to the CTR of normal non-targeted banner | | | | emphasize when matching ads to your site's content. |
| ads. | | | | You can implement section targeting by adding special |
| Now, how can you increase your AdSense earnings | | | | HTML comments to your site's HTML code. |
| once you have placed the ads on your site? Don't | | | | The HTML tags to emphasize a page section take the |
| worry, there is much you can do. | | | | following format: |
| First, let's take a look at the factors which directly | | | | If you want Google to ignore specific sections of your |
| influence ad performances: | | | | site when targeting ads you need to use the following |
| * unique visitors and page impressions | | | | comment tag: |
| * CTR | | | | Here's an example of how your site's code should look |
| * targeting | | | | like after implementing section targeting: |
| * CPC | | | | Your Site's Title |
| You will increase your ppc revenue by improving one | | | | This is text content of your web page. |
| or more of the above factors. | | | | This is the text which you want Google to emphasize |
| 1. Improving the website's traffic | | | | when targeting ads. |
| By driving more visitors to your site you will probably | | | | Here might also be some content. |
| increase the number of ad clicks, because there are | | | | Please keep in mind a significant amount of content |
| more people who see the ads. In addition, if you can | | | | should be placed within the section targeting tags, |
| get more page impressions on your website you will | | | | because insufficient content might result in less |
| also have more ad impressions which might result in | | | | relevant ads to appear on your site. Also, it is against |
| higher ppc earnings. | | | | Google's TOS to use ad targeting to display ads which |
| Attracting more visitors can be achieved by optimizing | | | | don't fit to your site's content, so you only may use |
| your website for the search engines, but also by | | | | section targeting to emphasize content sections of |
| adding more high quality content and unique services | | | | your site which include proper content. |
| to your site. Also, your site should have at least an | | | | Another way to improve ad targeting for your site is |
| "okay design", because your visitors will probably not | | | | to emphasize specific terms by making them bold ( or |
| go to your site again if it looks too terrific. In case you | | | | ) or making them a heading ( or ). Google will pay |
| don't know how to do search engine optimization: I will | | | | special attention to emphasized terms and phrases |
| write an article on this topic as well in the future. | | | | within your web page. |
| Better traffic stats will increase the number of ad | | | | 4. CPC |
| impressions. However, this does not mean you have | | | | The fourth way to improve your total advertising |
| got a higher CTR. The CTR could still be the same or | | | | income is to get a higher cost per click on ads |
| even lower than before though, so you also need to | | | | displayed on your site. But how to increase the CPC? |
| improve another of the above factors. | | | | First of all, you should do some research on different |
| 2. How to get a higher CTR | | | | keywords which fit to your site's topic. Go to Google |
| There are many options you can choose to get a | | | | and perform searches for these keywords. The more |
| higher click ratio. | | | | AdWords ads appear in the right bar of Google's |
| For instance, you have the possibility to change the | | | | search results the likelier it is that ads for the regarding |
| ads themselves. | | | | keyword have got a higher CPC. In addition, you can |
| 2.1 Ad Colors | | | | take advantage of Overture's Bidtool to determine |
| In general you have two kinds of ad colors to choose | | | | which keywords pay well in terms of PPC advertising. |
| from: ads that stand out and ads that blend in. | | | | Although the Overture tool is a direct indicator for the |
| Both may have their positives and negatives, but all in | | | | YPN, you can still use it to get a good idea of the |
| all you need to experiment with those types of color | | | | keywords' click prices. |
| palettes to see which works best with your site. In my | | | | Now that you know which keywords AdSense should |
| personal experience (and what I have been told from | | | | display ads for on your site the only thing you need to |
| most webmasters I have talked to) colors that blend in | | | | do is to target ads for the keyword(s) you have |
| perform better. Others have experienced better click | | | | chosen. You can do this by adding additional and |
| ratios from outstanding ad colors though, so this is | | | | targeted content and by emphasizing words or |
| something you really should try out yourself. Whatever | | | | complete sections of your web page, as explained |
| option you choose, you should at least try your ads to | | | | above. |
| fit to the website's design and color scheme though. | | | | 5. Google Search Box |
| My personal tip is: Match the ad's text color with the | | | | AdSense also offers the possibility to implement |
| color of your website's content's text color and match | | | | Google Search into your website. Google Search is a |
| the link color of the ad with your site's link color. | | | | useful service for your users, it can search either your |
| 2.2 Ad Placement | | | | site or the whole Internet. The search results pages |
| Another factor incluencing the CTR is the placement | | | | can be customized to fit with your site's theme, and |
| of your ad. AdSense ads should not be hidden from | | | | you'll be paid for every valid click on the ads that |
| your visitors, but they should be visible at first sight. | | | | appear. The search box is also great to earn money |
| Again, there are still several places you can choose | | | | from visitors who did not find what they were looking |
| for your ads to appear. | | | | for on your site, because the search box allows them |
| Text ads seem to attract most clicks at the top or in | | | | to search exactly for what they have been looking for |
| the center of a website's content area. Especially on | | | | and it will display ads that are targeted based on the |
| websites with much text content. | | | | keyword(s) they search for. |
| Do you already know the so-called "heat map" by | | | | So the Google Search Box can earn you some extra |
| Google? It illustrates profitable ad placements on an | | | | money. You should not expect too much from the |
| example site layout. The fields which are colored dark | | | | search box though. I have only been able to increase |
| orange experience the best performance while those | | | | income by 1 to 3 per cent through Google Search. |
| fields with a brighter color do not perform that well. | | | | 6. Optimization tips for forums |
| Anyway, the heat map is only a tip for you. It's based | | | | While I have already written much about placing ads |
| on Google's researches from many different websites | | | | on "usual" websites here are some tips on how to |
| with AdSense ads, but the heat map possibly does not | | | | make more money from PPC ads displayed within |
| show the perfect ad placement area for your own | | | | forums: |
| site. So - again - it's up to you to try where on your | | | | Ad Format & Placement |
| website ads work best. | | | | 160×600 Skyscraper ads placed above the fold |
| To give you a direction: On sites with an article, ads | | | | on the left side of your forum seem to perform very |
| which are placed directly below the article seem to do | | | | well. However, you should also place a 728×90 |
| quite well. In addition, you should also place an ad | | | | leaderboard ad below the forum's header. The |
| above the article, so people can click on it at the top | | | | combination of these two ad formats works well and |
| and at the bottom of the page. | | | | results in a high CTR, in my experience. |
| Important is that ads are placed where the user's eyes | | | | This can also be seen in Google's Heat Map and I can |
| are likely to focus on them. You should also try to | | | | only confirm the ad placements suggested by the heat |
| place the ads throughout your whole site, because this | | | | map. |
| adds variety across your site and users have more | | | | In addition, you should also place an ad between the |
| selection. Also, more ads mean more revenue, in my | | | | first and the second post of the threads in the forum. |
| experience. | | | | There already exists a script for vBulletin which |
| In case you're running a forum please pay attention to | | | | automatically displays PPC ads in this place. You |
| the "AdSense on Forums" section below. There I will | | | | should integrate this script to your forum to improve |
| discuss the specific placement criteria for forums. | | | | PPC income. |
| 2.3 Ad Format | | | | Above I have written that a leaderboard ad directly |
| The third way to improve ad performance is to | | | | below the editorial content would work fine. This |
| choose another ad format. AdSense provides you | | | | suggestion also works with forums. Therefore it is a |
| with many different ad formats. | | | | good idea to place a leaderboard ad directly below the |
| In general, wide formats seem to perform better than | | | | last post of the thread, because user's who read the |
| narrow formats. This is because people can read | | | | whole thread might be looking for the next link to click |
| more words at a time without having to skip a line. I've | | | | on - and what's a better link than a targeted ppc link? |
| experienced that the 336×280 large rectangle, | | | | Anyway, this would require you to remove the |
| the 250×250 square and the 160×600 wide | | | | leaderboard ad below the forum's header, because |
| skyscraper have done best on my sites. These are | | | | you may only display 3 AdSense ads per page. I |
| quite big ad formats, of course, so they need lots of | | | | would recommend to do so, because the leaderboard |
| space, but if they're placed well they usually generate | | | | ad at the bottom of the page seems to perform |
| more income than the smaller and narrow ad formats. | | | | better than the ad below the header, in my experience |
| Another good format is the wide 728×90 | | | | (and against Google's heat map). Instead, I would place |
| leaderboard, which does best under the editorial | | | | one of Google's horizontal link units below the header |
| content of a web page or directly under the page | | | | (a link unit may be placed as an additional ad, so you |
| header, in my experience. The 468×60 banner | | | | can display more than 3 ads per page). |
| format does not convert that well, but it can still be | | | | Over all you should try to use ads that blend in, |
| placed in areas where there isn't much space available, | | | | because people spend lots of time in forums and the |
| i.e. directly in the page header (next to the logo) or | | | | forum design should not be disrupted by outstanding |
| within articles. | | | | ad colors. |
| 3. Targeting | | | | Google's Search Box can also be implemented into |
| The targeting of ppc ads is very important, because | | | | your forum. I'd suggest to place it directly in the forum's |
| targeted ads perform much better than untargeted | | | | search tool. For instance, offers its members to use |
| banners. Therefore you should make sure all ads on | | | | both the forum's and Google's site search. |
| your website show targeted ads which fit to your | | | | Well, that's it. I think I've written everything which came |
| site's content. This will increase the CTR of the ads | | | | up to my mind at the moment. |
| and also result in a better branding of your site, | | | | I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and at |
| because people only find content and links that fit to | | | | least some of the above information will be useful for |
| your site's topic. | | | | you. |
| Many webmaster have problems with ads that don't | | | | Thank you. |
| show proper text links. Anyway, it's quite easy to | | | | |